


Speak Well

by bookwormally



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Humanstuck, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 14:19:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4063132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwormally/pseuds/bookwormally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has to take a damn speech class. Orpheus Ampora finds it utterly boring. Sainath Vantas finds it more nerve wracking than anything thanks to his stutter, but he's nothing if not a fighter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Speak Well

_You can do this._

_You talked to the professor and there’s no reason you can’t do this. You’ve practiced and half the class won’t be paying attention anyway just like you weren’t paying attention to them._

_You can do this._

You get to your feet and walk to the front of the room.

Orpheus leans back in his chair and rolls his neck. God presentation days were a blessing and a curse. Blessing because he could sit through the class and not pay attention and still get attendance points. Curse because it was so fucking boring and this professor had an eagle eye for people fucking around on their phones.

He’s been sketching stupid shit on a page in his notebook to keep his head from exploding. It’s mostly working. Trying to sketch out the messy curls of the man in front of him is a challenge. Of course then it’s the man’s turn and he moves away from him so he has to abandon that venture.

The new presenter takes a minute to pull up his power point and then he hesitates. Orpheus arches an eyebrow. Sure plenty of people got nervous especially since this was the midterm, but this guy looks different. Like he’s bracing himself for a disaster he already knows is coming and he can’t stop it.

“Go ahead Mr. Vantas.” Apparently the professor is in the mood to get things done today. Orpheus doesn’t blame him as he leans on one hand.

Vantas nods and takes another deep breath. When he does start talking the words come out slower than expected and carefully shaped. Orpheus’s brow furrows the longer he listens. It’s not that Vantas sounds like he’s got a learning disorder or anything, it’s just weird.

The professor is nodding along though and Vantas seems to be relaxing slightly and the speed picks up a bit. The class is just a basic required speaking class, but Orpheus has never really paid attention to his classmates.

Now though he can’t stop looking at Vantas and trying to figure out what about his speech is bothering him.

“Of course the issue of e-e-equality for all people is not as e-e-easily fixed as many people would expect.” Vantas’s voice stutters and Orpheus sits up a little straighter. The speaker is going a little red, but pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing.

Now that he’s listening though he can pick out the hesitation whenever Vantas has to say a word that starts with E. Probably shouldn’t have picked fucking equality as his topic, but whatever. Orpheus puts his hands behind his head and leans back in his chair again.

Vantas finishes up and closes out of his stuff and the professor lets them free. Instead of heading right out, Orpheus takes another minute to pack up his things. Vantas is just reaching the door when he pushes it open for him. “Thanks.”

“No problem. So is it only E or anything else?” Orpheus lifts an eyebrow as Vantas looks up at him with a scowl.

He turns his nose up at him. “None of your business as far as I can tell. My presentation went fine.”

Orpheus grins. “Yeah it did, but why’d you pick equality if you stutter over words that start with E the most?”

Vantas flushes furiously. “Because it’s an important topic to me? Why the fuck does it matter to you if I have a slight stutter or not?”

He shrugs. “Nothing at all. I just thought it was pretty ballsy or maybe just stupid of you.”

“Pretty fucking rude to call someone stupid when you don’t e-e-even know their name or their history with their own problem.”

“I don’t think it’s that bad of a problem really,” Orpheus says. “I mean plenty of kids have a stutter when they’re young. No big deal. It’s kinda irritating when you’re older, but whatever. I stuttered as a kid. I just grew out of it.” With two speech therapists because _goddamn it boy no Ampora is going to stutter!_

Vantas stops walking and stares at him. Orpheus stops and lifts an eyebrow. A hand is offered. “Sainath, though most people call me Sai. Did you really stutter as a kid?”

Orpheus takes the hand with a grin. “Sure. Vs and Ws were murder. Get me drunk and it comes back.”

Sai laughs. “Maybe some other time I will. Are you free right now? I’m fucking starving and you owe me lunch for being an asshole.”

He scoffs. “Like hell I do. You can buy your own damn lunch and just enjoy having someone as great as me to talk to.” Orpheus smooths his hair back and Sai just snorts.

“Yeah sure. Come on then Mr. Big Shot. I want something to e-e-eat before my stomach digests itself.” Sainath starts walking again and it takes Orpheus only a step or two to catch up with him.

*

Lunch after public speaking becomes a regular thing and Orpheus finds out that Sai has had a stutter in English and his native Hindi for as long as he can remember. It’s always Es in English, but sometimes words that start with A trip him up too.

“It’s the E sound and the kind of eh sound like in e-everyone and the ah sound like in a-and that are the real pain in the ass. I don’t know why, but I can usually get past it.” Sai explains it rather matter of factually as he tears into his sandwich. “A-A lot of the time if I slow down and breathe and think about what I’m saying it’ll stop. But I don’t _like_ talking slowly.”

Orpheus snorts. “Can tell that already and I’ve only been talking to you for a couple days. Have you ever stopped talking?”

Sai debates this as he chews then swallows. “No, not really. E-even when the other kids on the playground would stop listening I would just run after them and keep talking. I was a stubborn asshole.”

“Was?”

Orpheus laughs as Sai throws a piece of lettuce at him thankfully free of any kind of sauce. “Shut up. You barely know me. You’re an asshole too.”

He doesn’t argue just shrugs. “I like how you don’t ever seem to stutter over asshole. Use it so much you don’t even think about it?”

“I certainly meet e-enough people who qualify as one, so maybe.” Sai sticks his tongue out at him.

Orpheus rolls his eyes. “Right, right. So what topic are you planning on for the next speech?”

*

Somehow Sai starts ending up in his room, lounging on his bed as they talk and watch stupid movies. Not all the time, Sai apparently has quite the group of friends he likes to go out with, but enough. Orpheus finds he likes it. Sai comes over with some shit movie or other and they’ll watch it and talk and throw popcorn at each other when the other is being an asshole.

At first Orpheus would take his desk chair while Sai laid on the bed since he complained that Orpheus’s desk chair was too tall even on the shortest setting and it spun too much. “How am I supposed to watch movies if the chair keeps spinning?”

“You don’t be a little bitch that’s how.”

But it was a pointless argument and Sai flopped down on the bed anyway.

Orpheus lounges back in his totally awesome desk chair that is actually his size holy shit people are bigger than six feet and two hundred pounds you know! Sai has completely shit taste in movies, but it’s not so bad to watch and complain and not think about the other million things they have to do for class and work and the fucking future.

Apparently his new movie loving friend has run out of adult shitty movies because this time he brought Beauty and the Beast to watch. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in fact. Sai has sung along with every song so far and Orpheus is resisting the urge to smack his head into the wall.

“When I was a kid,” Sai’s voice is quiet, but still unexpected. Orpheus turns to look at him. He’s staring at the screen as Beast gets advice from the staff on how to win Belle’s heart. “I really felt bad for the Beast. I mean…he doesn’t really know how to talk to people. And I couldn’t talk to people and make them like me anymore than he could.”

Orpheus shrugs and turns back to the screen. “That’s just being a kid. You’ve got friends now so who cares.”

He’s looking at the screen so he doesn’t see Sai smile and hide his mouth behind his arms. “Yeah, you’re right.”

They both belt out “Be Our Guest” after Sai swears to replay it over and over until Orpheus sings along and the neighbor pounds on the wall and tells them to shut the fuck up.

Orpheus snickers and Sai carefully rewinds it to play again.

*

More or less Sainath Vantas does not really have a bad stutter. He has a couple sounds that he repeats, but if he would just slow down a little and think it wouldn’t happen as much. His friends don’t really care, not even Orpheus Ampora who is one of the biggest stuck up assholes on campus.

It does flare up when he gets surprised or incredibly upset to the point where he can’t force any words out. Orpheus assumed that it didn’t happen that often when Sai mentioned it because his friend is just such a ballsy guy with quite the temper that he doesn’t take any shit from anyone.

Everyone has their bad days.

Orpheus was cutting through the library after class to get home when he heard someone yelling. Which was pretty unusual for the middle of the fucking library so he’d turned in irritation. Some kind of asshole was bitching someone out over by the fucking coffee shop. No student on the university’s payroll was making enough to deal with that kind of shit, but Orpheus wasn’t paid anything to help.

He’s about to move on when he gets a better look at who exactly is getting screamed at.

That dark curly hair and short stature are plenty familiar even as the upset expression on Sai’s face is something completely foreign. Orpheus comes to a dead stop and stares.

“Fucking take ten years to order and then you don’t look where you’re going and now I’ve got my coffee all over my fucking shirt! Asshole are you blind as well as dumb?”

Sai’s mouth opens and Orpheus can see him tripping over the words, trying to apologize. The asshole doesn’t give him the chance. “Fucking spit it out. I had to wait an extra five minutes for you to say your order and now I have to get back in this long ass line because of you!”

Orpheus’s brow furrows, a fierce expression overtaking his features. He starts to stride over. One of the asshole’s friends has a hand on his shoulder trying to get him to calm down, but he’s still spitting vile into Sai’s face.

Sai who is brave and smart and has worked hard to overcome not just a language barrier, but also a stutter. Sai who only gets mad at people who deserve it. Sai who takes an extra minute just to say hello to anyone he passes with a smile. Sai who doesn’t deserve to look scared over an accident because this asshole is yelling at him and won’t give him time to get his words out.

He wraps his arm around Sainath’s shoulders and glares down at the offender. Eyes dart up and widen slightly before narrowing. “What, you need your boyfriend to defend you faggot?” Orpheus’s fingers tighten on Sai’s shoulder so he won’t punch this fucking moron.

“Actually, I’m just here to convey what you’re not letting him get out. Sai’s pretty sorry about spilling your drink and probably would have paid for your new one. Of course that was before you went full asshole and started screaming at him about taking too long to spew the same shit as you.” Orpheus’s voice is flat and singing with rage. “Once you started screaming Sai would have liked to express that you’re a fucking asshole for not letting him get a word in and would like you to go fuck yourself.”

“Go fu-fuck yourself with your no doubt e-e-ex-girlfriend’s strap on a-actually.” Sai’s voice is soft, but understandable and Orpheus allows himself a smirk.

The asshole sputters, but Orpheus continues. “There you go. So now you’re out a drink, a replacement, and an image as anything better than a dick. Have a good afternoon.”

Orpheus turns, bringing Sai with him.

“At least I don’t stutter like a retard!”

Fuck it.

Orpheus drops the arm from around Sai and turns. He socks the asshole right in the jaw, not quite hard enough to crack it. The only reason the fucker doesn’t hit the ground is his friend holding him up, but he doesn’t look like he’s interested in a revenge swing. Everyone around them is silent.

“At least some people know better than to talk shit about people who are better than them.” Orpheus just barely contains the urge to spit on him and turns back to Sai. “Let’s go.” The smaller man is tucked under his arm again and they leave the library.

They walk in silence the direction Orpheus had originally been walking before getting side tracked. Sai is quiet next to him.

For a minute or two maybe.

“I don’t need you to defend me.” His voice is sullen and his hand is clutched tight around his drink. Orpheus glances down at him, but doesn’t stop walking. Better to get away in case Fuckstick McGee back there decided he wanted a real fight. More likely he’d whine to his friends, but not do anything about it. Sainath is finding his voice again. “I don’t need a-anyone to defend me! Just because I can’t get a-all the words out in one try doesn’t mean I need to be protected or something!”

They’ve gone a few blocks so Orpheus stops walking and takes his arm away so they can face each other. Sai glares up at him and yeah that’s a tear running down his cheek. Orpheus feels like a fool because he just wants to hug his friend and make him stop looking so upset. A rather odd feeling since usually he just wants to pat his friends on the back and tell them to buck up.

He crosses his arms instead. “I didn’t do it to protect you. I did it because that asshole was being a fuckin’ asshole and I don’t like hearing people scream bullshit at my friends.”

Sainath stares at him and Orpheus stares back. The silence doesn’t seem to be what Sai expected and slowly the tense line of his shoulders relaxes. “Right. You wouldn’t bother with lying a-about something like that. We’re friends.”

Orpheus’s lips twitch. “Yeah, we’re friends. You okay?”

He sighs and takes a drink before replying. “Yeah. A-asshole ruined my want to study though.”

He grins. “Movie time?”

Sai smiles in return. “Definitely movie time. You best have something good.”

“I have the best taste in movies. It’s about time you say some of it.” Orpheus puts his arm back around Sai’s shoulders because his friend still looks rather small and kind of tired and he wants him to perk back up.

He ignores the warm feeling in his gut that tells him it makes him happy for Sainath to be happy.

*

This time Orpheus lies down next to Sai, leaning back against the headboard. The bed isn’t any tiny twin, but it’s still small enough that with both of them on it they’re a bit uncomfortably close. Neither minds right now, and watches in silence as the ocean waves open the movie.

It’s hardly _entertaining_ as the mainstream audience would call it, but Orpheus has always found historical navel films fascinating. In fact he’s watched this one twice and is still focused on it. He almost doesn’t notice when Sai’s head drops onto his shoulder.

Of course he does notice and glances over and then back to the screen. Now that he’s noticed it’s like he can’t stop. Sai’s head is a comfortable weight on his shoulder and it would be the most natural thing in the world to put his arm around him and tug him a bit closer and-

Wow, no that’s really gay. Orpheus Ampora is not gay. He loves women and having sex with them and wants a family and is totally heterosexual.

Except that he really does like having Sai there. Not even in a ‘imagining him as a girl’ type of way, but as Sai himself cuddled up to his side, a warm weight.

Orpheus has lost track of the movie and instead keeps glancing down at his friend. _Friend dammit_ , nothing more. He’s taking in a lot of things he’s never noticed about his friend like how soft Sai’s hair is and how he’s got this strong nose and is kind of the perfect body type for cuddling.

His face is going red and Sai has felt the eyes on him and looks up. Orpheus looks back at the television. He wasn’t doing anything. Nope, not a thing. Now he can feel Sai’s eyes and the man is shifting to sit up straight again.

He is not sad about that.

Sai may have sat up straight, but he’s also still staring at him. Orpheus glances at him then pauses the movie. “What? Do I have asshole blood on my face or something?”

He shakes his head. “No, nothing like that.” Sai shifts his weight and Orpheus is ready to excuse himself and move to the chair when he leans forward.

Their lips brush and Orpheus jumps. Holy shit. Part of him is still screaming NOT GAY at him very loudly. A much quieter part of him whispers that no one was going to know if he tried to be a little less straight. That part seems much more persuasive with Sai staring at him in nervousness and curiosity.

Orpheus chooses to listen and leans forward to kiss him softly.

Sai shudders and relaxes into him, wrapping careful arms around Orpheus’s neck so they can kiss deeper.

Somehow they end up completely wrapped together, movie forgotten, and the next thing Orpheus is really aware of is his forehead pressed to Sainath’s as they catch their breath and stare at each other.

“What is it when you like having relationships with women, but really want to kiss your best friend who’s a guy?” He blurts out suddenly.

Sai chuckles. “That would probably be bisexual. Concerned a-a-about the terms now? I’ve been talking a-about them forever.”

Orpheus rolls his eyes, but bumps their noses together. “Maybe. But I look at it this way. I kiss so good I set you stuttering.”

He flushes and flicks the back of his neck. “I a-always stutter!”

“Yeah, but not as much as you’re doing right now.” Orpheus tries for a sultry curl to his voice that is apparently unsuccessful since Sai grabs a pillow and smacks him in the head with it.

Not to be out done he grabs the other and they start swearing as they half smother each other.

By the time they’re done Orpheus has claimed both pillows and steals another kiss as a victory.

Sai Vantas might have to fight his own tongue to get the words to come out right sometimes, but he certainly knows how to kiss with it even so.


End file.
